We all have trade-offs to make in our businesses between the efficiency of doing something the best and the effectiveness of doing the best thing. Obviously, we’d always want to do the best thing the best way, but we are often forced to choose. This was brought to mind the other day as I drove down a local highway and saw a truck transporting a house. You’ve seen ’em with the “wide load” sign on the front, taking up two lanes of the highway. And it got me to wondering what kind of delivery experience this is for the customer. I can almost hear the phone call…
“You must be home between 8 and 6 for the delivery, ma’am.”
(Pause.) “But you have my home. That’s what I’m getting delivered, remember?”
“Uh, yes, ma’am. We understand that it is a bit of a hardship, but it’s the only way we can efficiently deliver our products and keep our costs low.”
“So you want me to sit on a vacant lot all day?”
“Yes, ma’am. And can you give me an alternate number to reach you in case no one answers your home phone…”
OK, this is silly, I admit. But it never seems silly to us when repair services or appliance delivery companies think we should block out our whole day just to accommodate their efficiencies. Yeah, I know efficiency is important. And I can understand that with the price of gasoline and wages to the drivers rising all the time, efficiency is even more important in some ways than it used to be.
But how many people would use the first repair service that promised to be there when you wanted the guy there? How many would even pay more for that? How many would absolutely be loyal to that company from then on because their time is so valuable?
Efficiency is great, but too many businesses are pursuing the same old customer-unfriendly (but efficient) ways as they have for 100 years. They are just waiting for someone to come along who offers a better deal. Because efficiency saves money but effectiveness grows revenue. Do you blindly reach for efficiency every time when you should be evaluating the trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness?
